The Last Day

Well today is the last day of the Tammy Bag blog hop! I hope you have been following along to see all the great inspirational bags! 

I have been taking a break from blog hops and just about everything since my work has been so busy...but now school is out and it's time for summer FUN! Starting with the Tammy Bag, designed by Madame Samm!

This is the first time that I have done a bag with a metal frame. I found it much more difficult than I expected. Making the bag was fine...the pattern directions were wonderful...loaded with photos! My problem came with sewing on the frame...maybe it is the arthritis in my fingers and probably not the best frame for the project...but here it is!

I will be using it for my hexi project which is my forever take~along project.

The outside pockets are perfect for the 2 different type of threads that I use. A cheaper plain cotton thread for stitching the pieces and a fine silk thread for making the flowers. 

The pockets on the other side are perfect for my scissors and my needles.

Inside there is plenty of room for hexagon papers, squares of fabrics ready to be stitched and in the pockets are some finished hexagons ready to be stitched together, my finger pincushion and some finger pad protectors. Everything I need for my take~along project. 

Thanks to Madame Samm for all her hard work, the pattern, and cheering us on. Thanks for the sponsors Riley Blake Designs and Corrado Cutlery! Thanks you for visiting and be sure to stop by the rest of the talented ladies on the hop today!

June 18th (Tuesday)

Felicia

Dawn

Carol

Britt-Inger

Kiera

Sharon

Jeanie

Mandy

Theresa

Mdm Samm

A Win and a Finish

Last night was the first game of the Stanley Cup Finals! 

It was a pretty intense game...fast, hard hitting and some awesome saves, but in the end...

BLACKHAWKS WIN!!!!

Triple overtime, the 5th longest in playoff history, before...SCORE! 

The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Boston Bruins.

3 more WINS to take the Stanley Cup!

While watching the game, I finished hand stitching the binding on this UFO that I took out of the archives back in April. 

Most of May, it was put on hold since I was way too busy.

I embroidered the blocks in 2010 but didn't know how I would layout the quilt. It was a bit of a puzzle. 

Here is a closer look at each of the blocks. 

(It was very sunny out so the backing shows through in the first couple of blocks.)

Most of the blocks I drew myself but I believe, 'Be Thou Humble' I found in a book from my local library which started this idea. I don't remember the title...way too long ago. 

The backing, border, and binding are all from my stash which makes me quite happy. 

Now to get it washed and labeled♥

School is Out for the Summer!

Wow! It has been a while since I've posted here. I haven't spent much time in my sewing room or reading blogs either :( 

For the last 6 weeks, I have been very busy at work as I had a long term assignment teaching 2nd grade! I really enjoyed my class and teaching but it does take a lot more time than just subbing day to day. Planning, grading, meetings, report cards and all the special activities that happen at the end of the year. 

I am ready for summer!

(If only the weather would cooperate)

A few things that I did try my best at to keep up with is the Art Journal Challenge. With June my birth month, I decided on a celebration theme!

I stamped in my birthday and a dear friend of mine's birthday.

I have plans to make the altered book cover that my pages will go in this summer...I have some ideas...hope it turns out as well as in my head :)

Go to the flickr group here and/or the facebook page here to see some most amazing talent.

I also kept up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. June's color is yellow.

I can't believe that we are 1/2 way finished with this year's challenge. Here are all my blocks!

I'm loving it...think I may make some more of each color! All the colors are from my scrap bins and it really hasn't had any effect on reducing the size of my scrap bins...at all! 

You can see everyone's pretty blocks here.

Besides being busy at school, my daughter's came home and we were able to celebrate Mother's Day together (a week late but that's OK with me.)

My beautiful daughters!

3 generations!

Well that's all for now...but I promise to be back soon!

Happy Mother's Day

 Today my DD3 flew home...a special Mother's Day with my DD1 & DD3...and Wednesday my DD2 will be home too! We will have another celebration next week...how blessed am I? Hope you have a special Mother's Day, too!

It has been a while since I have last posted. I am working everyday now until the end of the school year so I've not had much time for quilting or blogging.

 On my last post I asked whether you thought I should unsew the mistake in my stitchery quilt or leave it as it is...and the general consensus was to fix it if it was going to bother me. I knew that I would be unhappy with the finished quilt so I fixed it. It took less than 30 minutes...well worth it! I have started quilting it but only a wee bit. It will need to wait a little longer. Thanks for all who responded with your encouragement.

I did manage to make my Rainbow Scrap Challenge block this week. May's color is blue - sapphire blue. So here it is...

Head on over to soscrappy to see all the other wonderful blue blocks.

I hope to get a little bit of sewing done...but since I'm tired by the time I get home and finished with my school day, it seems I only have enough energy to do some hexi stitching while relaxing in the evenings. My hexi project is slow and steady with no deadline. Ahhh!

Until next time....

Art Journal and a UFO

While waiting for the fabric I ordered to arrive to back this quilt, I work on my May Art Journal Challenge pages. It seemed logical to me to use flowers for May since my April pages were of rain showers. We certainly had enough rain showers! Hope we have lots of May flowers!

I'm having so much fun with this project. And I love that I'm using fabrics and supplies from my scraps/stash. 

The buttons have been in my 'stuff' for a very long time! The bird is a sticker and I drew the tree branch with fabric markers. I'm pretty happy with it!

 With more time to pass, I got the urge to pull out some stitchery blocks I did SO long ago. In fact, looking back on my blog, I showed peeks of these here and here...way back in 2010! 

When I pulled out the blocks, I had drawings of the possible layout...but it was a little overwhelming to me on how to put together this puzzle. I even found my original drawings of the stitchery patterns I drew. 

I was determined to work on this UFO! 

I thought I would get some Kona Ash for the background and make the pinwheels from bright Kona colors to match the different flowers in the stitcheries.  

So I took a trip to my LQS and found Kona Ash...but I just had to looked through the sale fabrics...and there was Dimples by Andover in a bright pink. Thinking it might just work I grab it but just in case bought some Kona. 

 I auditioned both pieces.

I loved how the pink made the stitchery stand out and added a brightness. So, I started making the pinwheels using this new tool I found at a Quilting Expo I went to a couple of weeks ago. 

This is a unique ruler for squaring up HST! That shaded part running along the diagonal is actually a channel. 

It actually 'locks' in place along your seam. Trim 2 sides, then

rotate your piece and slide the ruler along the diagonal and trim the other sides. Makes a perfect HST!

I really liked using this tool!

After all the pinwheels were together, I started putting the pieces together. 

Here is the flimsy before the borders. 

The inner border is a narrow Kona Snow and the outer border a blue and white stripe from my stash! Sorry, no pictures. It is sandwiched and ready for quilting.  

Wait! Can you spot a mistake? 

I didn't until looking at these pictures. See the pinwheels in the upper right corner with the pink strip on top? They should have been reversed so the pinwheels were along the top and the pink strip framing the stitchery block. Should I rip it out or leave it as it is? Leave me a comment, I'd love to hear your opinion.

That's what I've been doing this week. What about you?

Back to a Basic - Sunday's Summary

The very first quilt I made way back in 1996 was this log cabin quilt as a wedding gift for dear friends of ours.

Please don't be too critical...hair, glasses, blouse...yikes!

Then in 2002, I made Court House Steps, a variation of the traditional log cabin  block.

Both pictures taken before digital cameras. Colors so much better in real life!

So this week I felt like it was time to go back to the basic log cabin with a more modern twist! I have been working on these blocks.

I cut the solid Kona bone logs, 2 1/2" wide and the colored logs, 3 1/2" wide and then arranged them until I was happy with this...

This is now a flimsy on my design wall which accounts for the poor lighting. The 'star' is laid out a little off center. I love how visually it gives you the feeling that it just keeps going. I will leave it without a border. Now to find a backing...

This week has been pack with tragic events...Boston, Texas, and my own community with flooding. 

In light of all these events, I leave you with this verse... 

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 

2 Corinthians 12:9

Mid~week update = a finish!

Remember when I was playing with stripes and made these?

These squares were hanging around my design wall and I wanted to to something with them before moving on to another project. So I pulled out the remainder of the striped fabric and continued making squares. Since I didn't have enough fabric to make them all the size of these original squares, I made some smaller, trimmed some to fit, and them put them all together. This is what I came up with. I'm naming it Squared. 

I backed the quilt with a solid pink from my stash and FMQ with interlocking squares. 

Don't look too close as I was having a little trouble with thread breakage however I believe it was the thread not the design. This design was inspired by this interlocking circle tutorial.  The quilt is finished at about 30" x 36". 

I will donate this quilt to Project Linus.